Forbidden
by blindingdarkness15
Summary: USED TO BE A .breathless16. STORY. READ MORE INSIDE. Richard Grayson has the perfect life: a fiancee, a great job, and a superhero life. But that was before his secretary/ex-lover came into his life. RaeRob. BRAND NEW CHAPTER 7.11.08
1. Chapter 1

Here's the deal. This is _my_ story. For those of you who have read this before, I am .breathless16. If you haven't read the blurb in my profile, I had two accounts, and now I'm locked out of the .breathless16. one. So instead of discontinuing the story, I figured I would move I to this account. For new readers I hope you like it was much as my old ones did.

AU. Richard Greyson has the perfect life. He's the head of the very successful Wayne Enterprises, he's the amazing Nightwing, and he has a beautiful fiancé. But that was before he met his new secretary, who will come in and turn his whole life upside down. RaeRob.

O – O – O – O – O – O – O

Richard Greyson sat at his desk smiling to himself. He couldn't think of any other person in the world he'd rather be right now. His life couldn't get any better.

He glanced at the small picture frame on his desk. He picked it up and ran his fingers of the ebony edges. The picture was him and Kori, his soon-to-be-wife.

He remembered when it was. It was at Terra's and Gar's wedding earlier this year. Richard had one arm draped around Kori's slender neck. He couldn't wait until it was them getting married, them being together forever, them proclaiming their love for each other.

They were planning to get married in about two months, but Richard wished that they could get married tomorrow. But he knew Kori wanted a nice wedding and everything, so he respected her wishes.

They had sent out the invitations about a week ago. Everyone was invited; people who had worked with Richard, Kori's friends, and of course, the Titans. Except one.

He had no idea what had happened to Raven after the Titans decided that it was time to go their separate ways. Richard always wondered about her and what she decided to do with her life. It was said that the only one she kept in contact with was Gar, and that was twice in a matter of five years. Vic was the head of a computer company, Gar was a video game designer, and Kori was, surprisingly, a well-known hair stylist.

Richard shrugged, almost like if he was telling himself what she did with her life and she was taking it where she wanted to. Richard placed the picture back on the desk. His phone then rang. He picked it up slowly, wishing work would end soon. He couldn't wait to see her.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Mr. Greyson, this is Eliza," a young girl's voice said from the other end.

"Oh, hi," he said, trying to remember who she was.

"I'm your secretary, remember? I talked to you twenty minutes ago," she said.

"Oh right, Emily," Richard said. He didn't care who she was. His secretaries came and went like no tomorrow. He never had even bothered to remember their names. Who could blame him? After Bruce retired, he had to take over a large company. He had other important things to remember, not some college girl's name who's only working for him so she could try and make ends meet in her shabby apartment.

"It's Eliza, remember? Anyways, I'm_ very_ sorry to say that I will no longer be able to work for you because my doctor has put me on bed rest for the baby. So, I have called a temping agency and a new secretary should be there in the hour. It was nice to work with you. Bye." She said in a breathless rush. Richard pulled the phone away from his ear confused as he heard the line click.

He rolled his eyes as he placed the phone back. In a matter of 6 months, he had had 27 secretaries. Most of them had been fired by him, but some quit. This was the only one who…resigned.

They never mattered. He didn't need one. He could take care of himself. He tried to explain that to Bruce who was still overseeing the whole matter, but Bruce didn't listen. He said that since Richard was still only 20 and most of the secretaries were over 21, they'd know how to handle emergencies better than he would.

_I'm Nightwing. I can handle any emergency. I handled world-known villains, but you're saying I can't handle an emergency?_ Richard often thought to himself.

The sudden ring of the phone pulled him out of his self pity. "Hello?" he said coldly.

"Richard, your new secretary is here," Mona said. Mona was the desk clerk. She was lonely grumpy middle-aged woman. Richard sometimes felt pity for her, but most of the time he just ignored her.

"Send her in," Richard said dully. All of this was a mistake. It was another name to remember, another person to pay, another person who just didn't need to be there.

Richard stood up as soon as he heard the knock on the door. He pulled himself together, put a fake smile on, and opened the door.

As he scanned the girl from the feet up, he noticed that she was a very…nice looking girl. She had a nice shape. She was a little on the short side, but so was he.

But as he went up to the face, his breath caught in his throat and the smile disappeared. He knew those eyes anywhere.

The girl smiled. "Hello Richard," she said. Yep, it was definitely her.

"Raven?" he asked doubtfully.

She nodded. "Well, I never thought that my next job would be working for you," she said as she raised her eyebrows.

Richard just stood there with a dumb look on his face. She still looked amazing like she did when she was fifteen.

Her mauve hair was now a dark purple and hung to her mid-back. Her hair was pulled back, showing off her face.

And, well, Richard had to admit that she had managed to gain some more style over the past three years. She wore a black fitted blazer over a purple silky lace camisole. A black skirt hung a good two inches above her knees, showing off her long legs. Simple black pumps finished her outfit off.

"This is a surprise. I guess I'm your boss," Richard said nervously.

"I guess so. That's not a problem, right?" Raven said.

Richard shook his head. "Of course, I don't want to put you out of a job," he said with a smile. But he knew he was lying through his teeth.

As Richard drove home that night in his black Jag, he wondered if it would be better if he didn't tell Kori. he knew after he and Raven broke up, Kori and Raven hadn't gotten along very well.

Besides, he didn't think Kori would be very happy if she suddenly found out that his ex-girlfriend was going to be with him and she had just magically became sexy. Not good. But Richard knew it was going to be fine…or at least he hoped so.

Raven on the other hand, knew it was going to be terrible. As she drove back to her apartment in Jump City, which was only about 10 minutes from Gotham, she knew this was going to be hell for her.

She was spending time with her ex who had dumped her for a conceited redhead who always acted the way she wasn't. That's what Raven always thought of Kori, even though she knew that Kori was like an angel. On her way up to her room, she wondered if she was doing the right thing.

O – O – O – O – O – O – O


	2. Chapter 2

O – O – O – O – O – O – O

As Richard parked his car at his very large Gotham City penthouse apartment, he was still debating on whether to tell Kori.

If he told her, she'd get a little angry- no, she'd go ballistic. But if he didn't, he knew he wasn't being completely honest with her, and he knew that that was not right. So as he walked into the elevator, he decided that he would tell her, but just try not to make a big deal about it. Like that would happen.

He walked in and saw Kori standing over a small over stirring whatever was for dinner. He walked up to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, beautiful," he said into her ear.

"Richard, stop that," she said playfully. As Richard went to hang up his jacket, he said, "What's for dinner? It smells good."

"It's pasta, and it smell because I burned the garlic, so our house is going to smell like it for weeks," she said, waving the wooden spoon at him.

Kori still hadn't managed to become the experienced chef, but Richard had to admit that she had gotten better. Pasta was a step up from the disgusting Puddings she had once made and shoved down the throat of Beast Boy.

As they sat down to eat, Kori asked, "So, how was your day at work?"

Richard cleared his throat, preparing himself to tell her. "Well, I got a new secretary. My old one was- I forget what happened to her, but she's gone," Richard said, trying to search his mind.

"Oh, that's great. What's her name? What's she like?" Kori said, picking up her glass of white wine. Kori was older than Richard, so she was able to drink alcohol while he drank soda.

"It's Raven," Richard muttered, trying not to make eye contact with her. Kori began to choke.

"Raven? As in our Raven?" she asked disbelievingly. Richard nodded solemnly. Kori took a deep breath. "Well, that's nice," she said in a sour voice.

"Kori, honey, calm down. It's not like we're going to be spending every hour of every day together. She's only a temporary until I manage to find a new secretary," Richard explained.

Kori nodded. "I guess you're right. So, what happened to her after? What does she look like?" Kori asked, trying to find out a little more about her.

"Well, she told me that after we broke up, she returned to Azerath for a year. She got her emotions under control. Then, she came back and decided she wanted to live a normal life, so she went to a two-year college, and has been working as a temporary for about a year now. How does she look? Um…" Richard said uncomfortably.

"She's pretty, isn't she?" Kori said sadly.

"Not half as pretty as you," Richard said, trying to sound convincing, although unfortunately he knew he was lying.

Kori's face lit up. "Richard you are so sweet. How did I get so lucky to have you as my future husband?" she said.

"No, for it is I who am lucky," he said. Kori blushed. And Richard knew he was in love.

O – O – O – O – O – O – O

Raven sat on her small lumpy green couch. The wonders of being a single woman working at a temporaries office.

Her small TV was on the blink again, so she turned it off as she finished the small container of rice from the Chinese place down the street. When she finished, she laid back on the couch.

"This is impossible. I'm working for my former leader, and ex-boyfriend. I don't know if this will work," she said softly to herself.

The worse part was when she saw him again, she got the feeling that she did when she was sixteen; that fluttery feeling, where you feel like you're weightless, but you stomach feels like lead. And Raven knew it was nervousness.

_**I'm being so silly. He's engaged, and I don't love him anymore. We broke up…well, he dumped me for her, but still, it was for the best. I'm not falling for him. I was just a little surprised to see him.**_ She was having a lot of trouble reassuring herself. Richard still was her friend. But it was just so hard.

After a few minutes of lying there, she got up and tried to focus her attention on something else. But after nothing worked, she decided to do something she hadn't done in a while; meditate.

She got into her familiar lotus positioning, and soon the relaxing feeling overcame her. When she felt a lot better, she stopped. But she still felt like she needed to talk to someone.

So, she determined to call the one person she knew she could trust. She picked up the phone, took a deep breath, and dialed the phone number. A cheer woman's voice answered. "Hello?"

"Terra? It's Raven,' Raven said shakily.

"Raven? Is everything okay? We haven't heard from you in so long," the bubbly young woman chirped.

Raven smiled. "Everything's fine. How everything going to between you and Gar? I'm sorry I wasn't there. I was at home," she admitted sadly.

"That's fine. No biggie. Everything's great between us. Especially…we're expecting!" Terra shrieked.

"Wow, how far along are you?" Raven asked.

"I think it's about four months, because it's starting to show," Terra said.

"That's wonderful. You two will make wonderful parents. I was wondering, is Gar there?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah. I think he was starting to worry. I'll get him. … _**GAR!**_" she shouted so loud that Raven had to hold the phone away from her ear.

A few moments later, a somewhat deep yet recognizable voice answered. "Hello?"

"Gar?" Raven asked.

"Rae, how are you?" he asked. Raven could tell he was smiling.

"Oh, okay. I have to say though I've been better," she said, wishing she hadn't right after.

"Why? What's wrong?" he questioned concerned.

"Well, you know Richard is the head of a huge company, and he's most likely going to need a secretary. I guess it was pure coincidence that I was the only temporary at the office who didn't have a job when his current on was put on bed rest," she admitted.

There was silence for a minute. "So you're working for him, huh?" gar asked.

"Yep. But the worst thing is who has turned into. He's…he's a snob. He's rude, he can't remember anyone's name because they're "not important enough", he makes fun of his clerk, and he's conceited. He's not Robin," Raven said, referring to the past Boy Wonder.

"I see what you mean. But why'd you really call me?" he asked.

Raven winced knowing he'd bring it up. "What- what do you mean?" she asked.

"Rae, I know you. You wouldn't call anyone unless you were dying or if you were suffering from major emotional illness, which concerning you is the same," he said with a small chuckle.

"Shut up," she said playfully.

"You're still head over heels," Gar told her.

"What? No I'm not," Raven said defensively.

"Rae, its okay if you are. It's normal," he said.

"I-I don't know. I got that… "feeling", but not all the way. Besides he _**is**_ engaged," Raven admitted.

Gar sighed. "You do know what you have to do either way, don't you?"

"Yep," Raven said.

"You can't go in there and rip apart their engagement, especially if he doesn't feel the same about you. You've got to let it go," he told her.

"I know. I want to so badly. I don't want to love him anymore, but it won't leave me alone," Raven said, her voice beginning to quiver.

"It'll be okay, you'll see. Besides, if he's as bad as you say, you'll probably be fired in a week," gar laughed.

Raven let out a small giggle as she wiped the few tears that had made tracks down her cheeks. "Gee, thanks for your confidence."

"You know what I mean," Gar said.

After they talked for a little longer, Raven said goodbye after she promised she'd call him soon. Raven took a deep breath, trying to hold it in, but she failed miserably. She soon fond herself with her face shoved against a pillow as she was overcome with sobs.

O – O – O – O – O – O – O


	3. Chapter 3

Richard slept restlessly that night. As he looked to his fiancée sleeping soundly beside him, he wondered about all of this. His ex-girlfriend was thrust back into his life, while his fiancée was still beside him, trying to clutch on to him to hold him back.

He couldn't understand. Kori and he were deeply in love. They cared for each other and planned on spending the rest of their lives together. They were bound to each other. But yet, when he saw Raven standing outside his office door, something inside him sparked. Something he hadn't felt in so long…4 years ago to be exact, the time he was in love with her.

'_That's over. You are engaged. You can't go falling head over heels in love with your ex-girlfriend. Wait, I didn't think that. I'm not falling in love. I am not. I'M NOT FALLING IN LOVE! _

_Calm down. Raven is just working for you. You need her to stay because you need to give her a job, but you need to keep yourself separated because you might do something you will end up regretting later when your wedding day approaches._

He turned over. Kori's long red orange hair tickled his nose as he wrapped his arms around her. He had to find some way to deal with this.

When Raven began to walk up the stairs to Richard's office, she started to take deep breaths. "Calm down Raven. It's not that hard. Who am I kidding? This is the hardest thing I've ever done. I can manage to destroy an otherworldly demon from destroying the entire universe, but I can't manage to face my ex-boyfriend. Wow, I'm pathetic." Raven then found herself at the receptionist's desk.

"May I help you?" the large woman behind the desk droned, not even looking up from the magazine she was flipping through.

"Can I just go in? I'm kind of new at this," Raven asked, trying to sound collected and nonchalant, but it came out as a nervous squeak.

The woman looked up at her and gave a dirty look. "Well, of course," she said, imitating Raven before getting back to her magazine.

Raven stared at her for a moment before moving towards the door. She wiped her sweaty hands on her pants, regained her composure, and opened the door.

Richard was at his desk eating a bowl of Lucky Charms. Raven stood there confused for a moment as Richard became flustered.

"Sorry. I always eat them for breakfast," he said as he got up and walked over to the sink in his office.

Raven nodded. "Really? I always thought you were more of a bland, boring cereal type. Guess not," she said as she placed her small black briefcase on the clean uncluttered desk that sat to the left of Richard's. She began to pull out small amounts of paperwork, unaware of Richard gawking at her.

Richard had looked over to see what she was doing. He double took when he saw her leaning over her desk. Her long purple hair was down today and in fell across her face softly. Today she wore a scarlet silk three quartered sleeve blouse, with black pinstripe pants, and red and black heeled sandals.

She surprised him when she looked up. "What? What is it?" she asked, almost frightened of him.

He stumbled for a moment. "Uh…nothing. It's nothing. Sorry," before he returned to washing out the dish.

After the paperwork was out, she walked up to Richard. "Look, I know you're famous for ditching secretaries, and the only reason why you haven't fired me yet is because it's me and because I need a job. But, I'd like to know what I am supposed to do so that I can help you out in any way possible."

Richard looked at her. He cleared his throat. "Well, I'm usually not very nice to my secretaries," he answered, blushing and laughing nervously.

Raven nodded and gave him a small smile as if saying 'I understand'. "Could you at least tell you what they used to do for you?"

"I used to order them to, well, wait on me. They got my mail, made my coffee, answered my cell phone, keep track of my date book," Richard replied shrugging.

"Then I will do that to the best of my ability," Raven said. She went to turn, but Richard grabbed onto her shoulder.

"Wait," he whispered.

She turned around quickly. "What is it?" she asked, her face scared.

"I know that you are feeling just as uncomfortable as I am about this whole thing. But, we need to remember that we are still friends and we always will be, no matter what happened to our relationship. I want to make our friendship strong again. I want to know about what you've done. I want it to be as close to what our friendship was when we were 16," he said, his eyes pleading.

Raven looked deeply into his eyes. She didn't know what to say. She was speechless for one of the first times in her life. "I'm not sure what to say to that," she answered.

Richard sighed as he tried to think of something that could clarify it. "I want to be able to talk to you normally during the day instead of having the tension in this room suffocating," he explained.

Raven couldn't believe it. Was this the actual Richard or had some evil alien taken over his body? This was not like him in any way. "Why?" she questioned barely audible, unaware of how close their faces were to each other.

Richard placed his hands on hers. "Raven, you're still one of my closest friends, and I want to be able to talk to you, without feeling like this. And I know you feel the same way," he stated.

She looked away before she realized that Richard's hands were still on hers. She ripped hers away feeling extremely uncomfortable. "You're right. I want things to be normal," she announced, more to herself than to him.

Richard breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe this would work out.

Towards the end of their day, when the clock was slowly reaching its way to four o'clock, the anxiety in the room that had lingered in the room in the morning had suddenly dissolved. After a relaxed morning and a nice lunch of just simply talking and not doing any work, Richard and Raven were quickly being to re-warm up to each other.

Raven still felt a little awkward, but she could at least look at Richard without her stomach feeling like it was shoved through a paper shredder.

And Richard, instead of seeing her with the look on her face she had when he dumped her 5 years ago, could actually make eye contact with her.

They talking freely before Raven decided she needed to do something to make her feel not so guilty about getting paid for not doing anything.

She strode down to the front desk and asked for Richard's personal mail. A hefty stack of mail was placed in her hand before she walked back to the elevator.

When she arrived back in the office, Richard was sitting at his desk throwing a bouncy ball at the wall. She gave him a subtle yet meaningful 'Are-you-kidding-me?' look before sitting at her desk. "Anything I throw away immediately?"

Richard scowled for a moment before his face lit up. "Any flyers asking for me, and anything from Lila Harris," he answered.

Raven was confused by the later part. "Who?" she asked.

Richard's eyes became wide. "You don't want to know. The girl, who happens to be 13, usually sends me 5 letters a day proclaiming her love to me. She once sent me a marriage proposal in a letter, along with the ring."

Raven smiled to herself as she dumped a pile of it in to the wastebasket. "Was it nice?"

"Oh, yes, I am always fond to mood rings," he said rolling his eyes before dropping the ball back into his desk.

Raven looked at him and smiled before asking, "How's the superhero life going?"

Richard froze. "What? What are you talking about?"

Raven glared at him. "Richard, I'm not that stupid. Let's think. The superhero Robin, who has black hair and a very distinctive mask just suddenly disappears right before Nightwing appears, who also happens to have black hair and a mask that looks just like Robin's," she said before shaking her head sarcastically. "Nothing alike, I suppose. I open everything else?" she explained.

"Alright, you got me. And yes." He stood up. "You do know you can't say anything about it, right?"

"Rich, I've known you're secret identity since you were 14. Have I blabbed yet?" she muttered without looking up. She had gotten through a couple thank you notes from companies who had received donations, but this next one was an odd one. It had no return address…or no postmark.

Raven frowned as she slid her finger under the envelope flap, ignoring the paper cut that began to bleed. A piece of red paper was inside.

She opened it before gasping…loudly. Richard heard that. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"You've received marriage offers, but have you ever received death threats?" she whispered.

Richard felt his heart stop. "What?" he gasped.

She began to read.

"Dear Mr. Grayson,

As you value your life and those around you, you will immediately leave Wayne Industries and cease with your secret life. If you do not follow my exact orders, you will regret it extremely for I will make your life a living Hell, for you have created mine.

Sincerely,

Your Biggest Fan

P.S- I know about the girl."

The letter fell from Raven's paler than usual hands and onto the desk. She looked to Richard, who was beginning to breathe quickly. "Oh god. Kori."


	4. Chapter 4

O – O – O – O – O – O – O

Raven's head snapped up as soon as she heard Richard speak. She thought she was hearing things. "Kori…Kori wrote this?" Raven stuttered.

Richard was confused for a little while before he understood what she was asking. He shook his head. "No, no, that wasn't what I meant. What I meant is that whoever wrote this obviously knows about Kori and that she's my fiancée. They also know that- that I'm Nightwing." Richard took a deep breath and shakily ran a hand through his hair.

"But who could have written this? Who would know that much about you that would want to hurt?" Raven trembled.

Richard shook his head. "I couldn't tell you. I wish I knew, because then I could go kill them."

Raven got up her slowly and almost glided across the floor. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Richard, you can't let your pride get in the way if Kori has been threatened. If you care about her enough, you wouldn't do anything stupid to put her in danger, would you?"

Her eyes were almost pleading with him, beginning him. As he looked into them, he saw something missing in her eyes. She had a glimmer of yesterday, and whole lot of years ago, but it was gone today.

He shook his head again. "No, I wouldn't," he said softly. She smiled slightly before returning to her desk.

She was pretty quiet for the remainder of the day which was less than an hour. When Richard said she could go home, she gathered her things and headed to the door. When she got to it, she turned. "No stupid mistakes Richard. Please, for Kori's and for your sake," she commanded.

Richard nodded and she continued walking. He stared at the stop where she stood for a while before he realized what he was doing and got ready to leave.

When he got home, he told Kori about what happened in the least possible amount of detail, leaving out the part about him stopping as Nightwing, him being killed, and her. So in his terms it was simple threat.

When he went out that night, donned in his black 'leotard' the first person that came to mind was Raven. Her face, the look in her eyes telling him not to go. He almost wanted to turned around

But he couldn't. Gotham needed him to protect them. He couldn't let some person threaten him. Besides, Kori was safe at home, and she knew how to protect herself if anything or anyone should creep up on her.

He leapt from building to building (A/N- I have no idea what Nightwing does. Fill me in if you do.) keeping and eye out for anything strange.

But even as he was going, he felt like as he got more into it and the later he worked, he was being followed. Something wasn't right. He didn't want to turn around because they'd stop. So he began to jump until he jumped downward into a darkened alleyway and hid in a shadowed area quickly.

Whoever had been shadowing him followed. As he hid in the shadow, they looked for him in the wrong direction. He then propelled himself off the wall and tackled them.

They grunted, but they didn't seem too hurt.

"Who are you?" Richard questioned. "What do you want from me?"

The person, which looked like a woman a leather cat suit, said, "Easy, baby, don't get too worked up."

Richard placed his hand on their neck and pushed. "Answer me. What do you want? Why were you following me?"

"I was told to follow you to make sure you didn't get too close to the spot," the young woman answered.

Richard's arms came up from her neck as he became confused. "What spot?"

The girl stretched her neck before speaking. "You weren't supposed to go out tonight. The threat was clear, wasn't it? 'As you value your life and those around you'. Well, this girl probably wishes she didn't know you after the boss gets done with her."

Richard felt his heart stop. He jumped off her and began to run to his apartment. But the girl, and Richard still couldn't understand why, shouted, "Baby, you're going the wrong way. This girl's apartment is only a block away."

Richard had never been so confused in his life. 'If the girl isn't Kori, who is- oh no,' Richard thought to himself as he figured it out.

He tried to remember where Raven said she lived. It took him almost five minutes to remember. He bounded up the staircase and looked for number 18. When he found it, he saw the door had been bust open.

As he slowly walked inside, the room was ripped apart. Red paint had been splattered everywhere. Glass was shattered, Richard could tell that stuff had been stolen, but Raven was nowhere to be seen. He looked everywhere, even in the bathroom.

He was about to leave before he heard a small moan from the closet. He ran over to it and opened it slowly. Raven's apartment, large in deed, had a walk-in closet, and whoever had done 'this' to her had shoved her in there after. He gently picked her up and laid her on her bed. Large bruises were all over her body. She what looked like burns from a cigarette as well. Whatever happened to her was extremely painful, and it was all his fault.

He needed to wake her up. He tried shaking her calling her name softly and then loudly, he even tried dumping water on her, but it didn't work. Nothing worked He grabbed her shoulders and shook her harshly. "Raven, please, wake up, you're scaring, me, please wake up!" he cried out. She opened her eyes at the sound of his voice only for a moment, She strained to move her head, but as quick as it had taken her to open her eyes, she had fallen unconscious again.


	5. Chapter 5

O – O – O – O – O – O – O

He lifted her onto her bed gently, cursing at himself for all he had done. Why hadn't he listened to her? What had stopped him? She had warned him multiple times.

But it had been Kori that he thought was in danger…

And yet he still went.

What did that say about him? What if Kori found out about that? What would she think of him as a fiancé?

He placed his hands on his head and began to pace. What was wrong with him? How could he honestly know that the love of his life was mortal danger and still do something?

As he turned to Raven, he saw her body engulfed in a familiar pale blue light. A wave of relief washed over him, for he knew she was healing herself.

When he saw this, it reminded him of this time she was attacked by Adonis, and they thought Beast Boy was the one who had actually hurt her. That scream that had raced through the entire house haunted him forever.

He looked around her apartment. How did anyone know that Raven knew Richard Greyson? They would have had to been stalking her or something.

Richard had to get out of here. He knew he shouldn't leave her like this, but he couldn't stay in this house anymore. It was suffocating him, telling him that everything he had done was wrong. He had just caused all of her pain. He had to leave.

He ran out as fast as he could. He would be back in a little while. And as he hopped onto his motorcycle, he wondered what he would tell Kori about what happened tonight.

He went back to his house and changed, trying his hardest not to wake Kori. What if it had been Kori they were talking about? Why had he gone? Did he already know? Was there that little voice in the back of his head telling that 'It won't be her, don't worry.' But even if he had known that, he should have just been careful. He could have passed on the thrilling moments he usually got if he knew it would have protected Raven.

When he returned to Raven's house, in his normal clothes, he felt a little more in control of his thoughts. Questions weren't flying at him from his own mind. But he felt guilty still for leaving her like that. He wasn't thinking right, he told himself. But he knew he was. He just didn't want to stay there. What if they were still watching? What if they had come back for Raven?

As he bounded up the staircase to apartment 18, he told himself to forget about it. No one would know that he had left. But when he went to open the door to her apartment, he found the door was chained.

He saw in the inch opening. "Raven?" he called. She couldn't have healed herself by now, could she?

"What do you want?" she answered sharply. She could have, and she did. As she appeared in the door, his stomach did flip-flops.

"Raven, please let me in," he pleaded. But he already knew what her answer would be.

"No." And with that she slammed the door in his face. Richard stood there for a little while, waiting.

"Raven, I'm sorry," Richard called out. But nothing came back. This was reminiscent of their teen years. "Well, I hope you don't have anything planned for the night," he muttered under his breath as he began to knock on the door.

As he heard a deadbolt click, he smiled happily to himself. Stubbornness always won. "Will you quit it?" Raven accused, yanking the door open about an inch before the chain stopped it. This was not fair. He doesn't listen to her, she gets attacked, he leaves her, and then expects her to forgive him. What a hero.

"Not until you let me in," he responded as he crossed his arms. "Please?" Richard persisted.

Raven leaned against the door frame. "Why should I?" she asked. If he was coming back in, he was going to have to apologize.

Richard was speechless for a few moments. "I…uh…well, I," he stumbled.

"I'm waiting," she replied, a cynical grin growing on her face. She was enjoying watching him struggle.

He sighed. "I'm sorry, Raven. All of this was my fault. I should have listened to you. But I was being my usual arrogant self, thinking that what I know is best. What I didn't think is that others may be in danger from it. And here I am, angry at you for being angry at me. I should be happy you haven't ripped me in half yet," Richard realized.

Raven smiled as he went through all this. She closed the door and undid the chain. "I guess that's good enough," she said, opening the door.

He walked in slowly, hoping that she would understand why he had to do what he did.

As they sat on the couch, it felt so…nice to talk again. In such comfortable surroundings. Maybe they weren't talking about such nice topics, but it was still nice. And the more and more that they spent time around each other, they found themselves yearning to go back in time.

Once Richard had finished telling Raven about what had happened during the course of the night, there was an awkward silence.

"So, uh, what's going to happen now? Is this going to happen every night?" Raven asked.

"What do you mean?" Richard responded.

"Am I going to the crap kicked out of me every night until I just give in and die?" Raven said somberly.

Richard was silent. He didn't have an answer. "I don't know. I think that whoever is doing this to me has seen you at my job and must've seen you leave and come here-"

"Which means that my life is basically over until you find this stalker," Raven retorted.

"No. I'm just going to have to stay here with you," Richard muttered before his brain even comprehended what came out of his mouth.

Raven froze, giving him a peculiar look. "Did you just say that or am I hearing things all of a sudden?" This was absolutely unnecessary for Richard to be here. But Raven wasn't exactly debating the topic at the moment.

"No, I said it. Raven, we have no choice. If you're here by yourself, there's no telling what could happen or when. But if I'm here, I could protect you," he explained.

"I don't need any protection!!" she exclaimed, practically jumping off the couch. How did Richard always managed to rile her up?

"Then how did all of this happen to you tonight? Did you fight back?" Richard shot back.

Raven slumped back onto the couch defeated. "I couldn't. Whoever did it knocked me out," she mumbled.

"You have to trust me with this. I as Nightwing would say this to anyone that had been hurt," he replied.

"But Richard, you're engaged. Won't Kori say something about it?" Raven questioned him.

Richard shook his head. "Nah, she'll understand," he lied, knowing Kori would flip out once he told her what was actually going on. But he'd have to deal with hit. "Raven, this is your safety. No matter how much you fight, I'm going to stay here."

Raven looked at him, a perplexed look on her face. She wasn't fighting as hard as she could. She just needed to look like she was. "Well, if you insist."


	6. Chapter 6

Richard dodged the starbolts that were being thrown at him. He dodged the various objects that were being thrown at him as well. The things that he couldn't dodge were the awful insults coming from Kori's mouth.

He felt terrible, he truly did. But there was nothing he could do. He needed to protect Raven, which was why he had to bring Raven with him to their house. Raven sat in a kitchen chair, like a child who had been bad and was punished into time-out. She was cowering away from what was going on, knowing that it was her fault.

He sent a small glance her way, trying to let her now that it wasn't her fault. He had said to her so many times that this was his choice, and that he wanted to do this. But she just didn't care.

"…And to think I thought you loved me! You're a bastard! An awful, heartbreaking, lying bastard! Why are you looking at her?!" Kori cried before she threw her arms down, giving up.

She looked at Raven, before looking back at Richard. "No, never in a million years did I think…" she mumbled to herself as she placed her hands on her forehead and began to shake her head back and forth slowly.

"What are you talking about, Kor? Honey, just calm down and let's talk this over," Richard soothed as he began to walk toward her.

He was beginning to get close to her before she sent a large starbolt at him. "NO! GET–AWAY – FROM – ME!!" she shouted angrily.

Richard jumped back as the starbolt burned a hole in his shirt. "Any help here? Can't you put a shield or anything?" Richard growled at Raven.

"Nope," she answered. Figuring she was being difficult, he rolled his eyes and went back to looking at Kori.

"You are an awful person Richard! You have broken my heart! I knew this was going to happen from the start! As soon as you told me she was coming to work for you, I knew you were going to fall back into love with her!!" Kori shouted.

Raven sat straight up. Did she just hear what she thought she heard? How did Kori manage to think that? It's not like they had exhibited signs of affecting towards each other.

"And where did you get this from?" Richard accused. This wasn't making any sense. Kori was usually so understanding. Unless, of course, when she was jealous. But she couldn't be…could she?

"Richard, get out!" Kori shrieked, pointing to the door. She was beginning to shake with anger.

"But Kori-" he started. "You're making this into so much more than it actually is. If you just let me explain, then I would tell you what's going on," Richard started.

Kori crossed her arms. "Oh really? I don't care what you say or do or think you can persuade me to believe, Rich. You know how you feel. And through the past how ever many years we have known each other, I have learned to read your feelings. I know when you're upset, or when you're angry, or when you're crazy about me! And I know that you're no longer crazy about me. Just from the past two or three days since she came back into your life, you've changed. So right now, I think it's best that we end this, and you get out," Kori stated before she pulled the silver band off her left ring finger. She placed it in Richard's hand before walked out of the room. Richard heard the familiar sound of the bedroom door slamming as he rubbed his fingers over the ring. It was over.

As Richard and Raven returned to Raven's apartment, there was an awkward silence that hung in the air. He was silent the entire way home.

As soon as they went back into the apartments, he just stood there. Raven watched him, almost scared that he would lash out, begin to scream, tear the apartment apart.

He began to pace back and forth. Raven took a deep breath and approached him. Placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, she whispered, "I'm so sorry."

He turned to her. "I-I just never thought that something like this would happen, you know? All I wanted was for her to listen to me and see where I was coming from. I guess our relationship wasn't as strong as I thought as it was," he replied, his voice wavering.

Raven felt her heart twist. Here she had wanted Richard to come and stay with her, and it had ended up leading to the end of his engagement.

"Don't think that, Richard. What you and Kori had together was love, and it was powerful. She just wasn't willing to put up with the small bumps in the road," Raven said.

"Raven, please. I'm thankful for your encouraging words of wisdom, but it happened, and nothing is going to change it. Maybe she was right," Richard muttered.

Raven jerked her hand off him at that statement. "What did you just say?"

Richard looked at her before his eyes grew large and round as he realized what he had said. "I mean, what if she was right that I was no longer crazy about her?" Richard answered quickly, trying to cover himself. Raven nodded, still giving him a strange look.

"It's for the best, though, isn't it?" Richard continued, almost as if he was reassuring himself that he had done the right thing.

The next day at work, it was still awkward. Richard was sleeping in Raven's house, his love life was over, and he wasn't sure Raven had completely forgiven him for the night before.

As he sat at his desk in complete silence, he enjoyed it. Raven had to go drop something off in some place. He hadn't been listening to her when she was talking.

His life was ending as he had known it. He had a stalker, no super hero life, no fiancé, and the only true friendship he had was on rocky ground.

He closed his eyes in exhaustion. Last night he couldn't sleep. All he could think about was…well, you know.

Just as he had started to doze off, Raven burst into the office. This caused Richard to snap his head up a little too quickly. Which caused him to follow him to fall out of his chair.

"Richard!!" she yelled, running to his desk.

"What happened?" he said, lifting his head up to peer over the desk. What was so important that she had to make an entrance like this?

"I think we got another one of those letters!!" she whispered breathlessly. She must've run all the way back to the office because her hair was mussed, her shirt was half untucked, and her shoes were in her hand.

Richard stood up quickly. "Open it up. We have to see what it says," Richard ordered.

Raven dropped her shoes and the other mail. Quickly opening the envelope, again with no postmark or return address, it had another red piece of paper in it.

"Dear Mr. Grayson,

Since you have not followed my edict

We've found ourselves a bit of a conflict

You followed order number one

Only after the work had been done

But what about request number two

The second thing I asked of you

You haven't followed it

Until you do, you'll be in pain for a bit

And I'm sorry to hear of the split

What was her name? Starlit?

No, Starfire. Anyway, do what I say

And I swear everything will be okay

But if you don't listen to me

The outcome of your friend will be gloomy

Sincerely,

Your Biggest Fan," Raven read aloud before dropping the letter in front of Richard.

He was speechless as was she. As he read it to himself, he was confused. "I did everything he asked me to. Why is he saying I didn't? Richard exclaimed.

"He asked you to leave Wayne Enterprises," Raven reminded him, shuddering as she thought of the last two lines.

Richard stopped. "I-I can't," he stuttered.

"I know that," Raven said quietly. And she wasn't going to let him either. If this creep was thinking that he was going to scare them or get them to change their lives in any way, he was mistaken.


	7. Chapter 7

Raven sat in the apartment by herself. She looked out the window at the setting sun. Richard had stepped out to, claiming he needed to get something, but Raven knew the real reason. He had needed to get out, to get away from her. This was all becoming too much for her, and she couldn't blame him.

Raven sighed, pulling her legs closer to her. Why did this have to happen? She thought she was done with superhero crap. But now, she was the bargaining chip between Richard and a psychopath. The only way she would be left alone was if Rich left Wayne Enterprises, and there was no way in hell she could ever let him do that.

She moaned as she laid back placing her hands over her eyes. When did she become such a noble person?

She could never ever remember sacrificing herself, unless you count the time that she gave herself to try and save the world from her father. When she did that, she remembered the looks on everyone's faces. Pure terror, fear, and absolute despair. When she felt the marks lighting up on her body and her being pulled away from Earth, she tried not to look at Richard.

He had called her name with such a sincerity and compassion she had never heard from him. Her head whipped towards him. The look in his eyes, well, mask, made her regret everything. He needed her. And she actually believed him.

She wanted to turn back the time. Wanted to stop everything that was going on around her. The relationship that had existed between Richard and her had ended months ago. As she listened to the shout come from him; him pleading and begging to her to hold on, let them try and stop Slade and Trigon themselves without her sacrifice, she thought that maybe he loved her again.

But she was pulled away and replaced with her seven-year old self. As Richard helped her along and risked his life for her again and again, she felt her heart softening for him.

Then, he was hurt trying to protect her. It had been too much for her to handle. She couldn't let him be hurt at her hands, especially since she was finding herself falling in love with him faster and faster than she could deal with it.

She transformed back to herself, and defeated her father with everything she had left. As everything returned back to normal and Richard approached her, she threw herself at him, hoping he would get the hint. No man would risk their life for you unless they loved you…right?

Wrong. Robin the Boy Wonder would save anyone. As he embraced her awkwardly, she felt a little embarrassed, but she shook it off. She would talk to him later. She later found out that she wouldn't need to.

She hadn't been aware of the strong feelings that had been occurring between Richard and Kori ever since the ship had split apart and the team had gotten stranded. So one day, she sat in awe as Richard blushed when Kori and his hand met. When did this happen?

So she watched and waited, hoping it would come to an end. But it never did. The romantic discomfort between Richard and Kori elevated until it finally exploded in Tokyo with their first kiss.

Raven tried to get her mind off of his by having a fling with Gar, but it didn't work. Gar was crazy about her, but she loved him like a brother. And soon, Terra was back.

The phone rang, pulling Raven from her remorseful reminiscing. She figured it was Richard, probably going to tell her something stupid.

She grabbed it. "Hello?"

All that came as the response was breathing.

"Ri-" she started to say but cut herself off as she saw Richard come in the front door. She looked at Richard with wide eyes.

"Hello? Who is this?" she said again. She pushed the speakerphone button on the phone. Richard came over to her.

"Is this Raven Roth?" a deep male voice said.

Richard shook his head and mouthed 'no'. "No, it's not, you must have the wrong number…" Raven replied. Her heart was pounding. The voice on the other line was sending chills down her spine.

"Miss, I repeat, are you Raven Roth? The young man may say that you are not, but I would like to know what you have to say," the voice boomed.

Richard's eyes widened. "He can see us," Richard whispered.

The voice began to chuckle.

Raven jabbed the speakerphone button. "Yes, I am Raven Roth…But I don't understand…Wait!"

Raven pulled the phone away from her ear as the dial tone echoed throughout the apartment.

"What did he say?" Richard asked worriedly. The look on his face matched his voice.

Raven hung up the phone and was silent for a moment, looking at Richard with a scared look in her eyes. Finally, she responded, "All she said was, 'It's always easier to kill two birds with one stone.'"

The apartment had been quiet since that phone call. Richard sat in the chair next to couch where Raven laid.

As Raven laid there, she realized the sadness she held towards Richard over what had happened towards their relationship in the past shouldn't be sadness. And with that, it slowly started to turn to anger.

She bit her tongue, not wanting to say anything to Richard. The atmosphere was an awful one in the first place, and she didn't want to make it an even worse one. But sometimes, you have to do what you have to do…

"Can I ask you question?" Raven asked.

Richard dropped the magazine he was reading. "Sure. Anything wrong?"

"No. You swear you won't get mad though, will you?"

"No. Just ask it," Richard responded.

"How did you stay with Kori for so long? How did you manage to bear it?" Raven said.

Richard almost began to laugh. Was she serious? He, in no way, was expecting a question about his relationship with Kori. He could understand about everything that was going on, but never about him and Kori.

"Why does it matter?" Richard asked, trying to get away from the answer.

Raven shrugged. With a fake smile, she said, "Just curious."

Richard rolled his eyes. "Well, I guess it was because I loved her so much," he said in a sickly sweet voice.

Raven muttered something under her breath.

"What?" Richard called out.

"What is so important that you can't tell me?!"

"What is so important that you need to know?!"

Raven threw her hands up. "Ack, I give up. You're so stubborn," she told him as she jumped off the couch and headed for her room.

He followed her just as quickly and got to her room "You aren't getting away that easily. You started this, now you have to finish it. Why did you want to know?" Richard repeated.

Raven stood uncomfortably. She breathed huffily before mumbling, "What did she have that I didn't?"

"Are you serious?"

"I said, what did she have that I didn't? You guys lasted a lot longer than we did, so she must have had something that I didn't…" Raven trailed off.

Was Richard hearing this correctly? "We didn't last very long because you broke up with me, Raven," he answered.

Whoa, he did not just go and blame this on her. She was trying to keep this quiet and clam. But when you blame something on Raven that she didn't do, you're asking for it. "Excuse me, but you're the one that dumped me."

"No, you broke up with me because you didn't want to go to the next step," Richard replied, his voice growing in both volume and anger.

"Because I couldn't! Because it would've meant me showing too much emotion! I had already been showing too much by admitting my love for you. But you couldn't be happy with that. So you dumped me," Raven yelled.

Richard was silent for once.

"Why'd you have to dump me? Why did you have to get with Kori? Why did you have to fall in love with her, and – and ruin everything that we could've had?"

Tears began to track down Raven's face. Her long hair was slipping out of its loose ponytail as she whipped around, ran into her room and locked the door as sobs erupted from within her. The noise was deafening to Richard.

Richard sat on the couch, thinking. What had caused Raven to explode at him like that? The things that she had said to him…he just couldn't get it out of his head. It seemed like she was following him with her pained voice.

Just what she said, it-it made him think about what was going on. Things that had been said and that had been done had created feelings. Feelings he hadn't felt in years.

And he was scared to tell her that needed her. The more he admitted his need for her, the more danger he put her in.

It was just too complicated. When things get complicated, they get unfair.

Richard sighed. She hadn't come out of her room, and it seemed like she wasn't going to anytime soon.

He stood up and walked over to Raven's door. Knocking on it gently, he called out, "Rae? Are you okay?"

"Go away," the voice responded.

"Raven, you know I would never mean to hurt you. Things just ended up happening…against us," Rich explained. He leaned against the door sliding down.

"So what? You're blaming this all on fate?" Raven exclaimed, her voice becoming louder.

Richard paused, trying to maintain his patience. "That's not what I'm saying. It's just that things just happened faster than we could handle. We were young, we were immature-"

"DON'T YOU DARE USE THAT EXCUSE!!" Raven yelled. The door swung open and Richard went flying backwards. As he found his head at her feet, he looked up and smiled, trying to smooth things over.

"If you think that it's possible for you to use the 'young immature' lie on me, then I guess you're not the person I thought you were. The Richard I know would cut the bullshit and just admit to what he did, not beat around whatever happened."

Raven stepped over him and began to march towards the door fuming.

"Raven, wait, please," Richard called, pulling himself off the ground.

"Richard, just stop, okay? I'm sick of this, all of this. I'm going out," Raven responded as she went to grab the door.

"The reason why I stayed with Kori so long was because I thought I would never be able to have you, so I figured that this was the next best thing," Richard admitted, making Raven freeze it her steps.

She wouldn't turn around and look at him. She just stood there, not moving, not speaking, not breathing. Richard watched her, wondering if she would go into another explosion, or if she would crumble, or if she would kiss him. Scratch that last one.

As he began to make his ways toward her she left running. He followed her, knowing that after today's phone call and in emotional state, it would not be safe for her.

As they both bounded down the stairs, Richard calling out to her and her screaming obscenities at him, Richard felt there was something wrong. It was close to midnight, there two people screaming in an apartment and no one was doing anything.

Raven made her way onto the street. Stomping her boots in anger, the clacking of the heels was music to her ears. It drowned out Richard's voice.

"RAVEN, STOP!" Richard bellowed. As Raven turned around, the look in Richard's eyes was passionate, pissed and pleading.

"Look. I know you're not going to stop for me, and I understand that. But I want you to stop for yourself and your own safety. Remember that a lot of the tension that's going on between us is from what's been happening," Richard exclaimed.

Raven began to laugh bitterly. "You honestly think I'm going to believe that? Richard, you are going to do anything to say that this wasn't your fault. Well, guess what Rich, IT IS! THIS WHOLE THING IS YOUR FAULT!" Raven scoffed. But as she was saying this, she had to admit, the street they were on was a little odd.

It was completely dark except for the traffic light and a few neon bar signs. The only people in site that she could see were homeless men. It was late, but it wasn't that late. Wind was blowing at a high speed, higher than normal.

Raven looked at Richard. "Please, just come on. It'll be better for both of us," Richard persisted.

Raven still couldn't believe that he was trying to be nice to her. It put her off so much. It made her want to go up there and punch him in the face. And yet, after all these years, he could still manage to convince her that his way was the right way.

She sighed and was about to walk over to him and the wind started to blow ever harder. Raven's hair flew past her. Her jean jacket flew open, exposing her black tank top.

With a loud _crack_ the lights coming from the traffic lights and the signs went out. As they were now surrounded by silent, dark blowing wind, she felt a presence among them. She started to look around, trying to find the person or thing that might have been there.

Richard saw her searching. "Rae, what's the matter?" He knew there was something wrong. He knew they needed to get out of there. But Raven was too petrified to move.

"Raven, come on, we have to go," Richard shouted.

Raven looked at him, and she started to make her way towards him, but what Richard saw next completely amazed him.

From Raven's shadows, a dark figure slithered out and wrapped itself around Raven. As Raven began to fight back, the creature placed its hand over Raven's eyes. Once they had, Raven went limp.

Richard stood there in shock. When he realized that he was just standing there, he jumped and ran to her, hoping that he could get there.

The shadowy thing soon enveloped her. All that Richard could see was floating blackness. It jumped and dove into a nearby shadow, disappearing.

Richard stood there dumbly, wondering what had just happened.

Raven was gone.

She was gone.

And he had no idea what to do.


	8. Chapter 8

Richard sat in Raven's apartment, feeling sick to his stomach. What had he done?

Raven was gone. She was literally gone, her life in danger because of him.

And all those things he had said to her, what was he thinking?

Richard couldn't deny it any longer. He was still in love with her. He basically told her multiple times over the past week! She had been with him through everything that shook him. She was his rock.

He swallowed, trying to get the lump out of his throat. She had never given up on him. She knew that through his rants and rampages, Richard was still in there. He just needed to cool off and blow some steam. She was his best friend. She had seen everything about him. She was his lifesaver.

And now, she could be dead, and it was all his fault.

When Raven finally needed him to save her, he couldn't do a single thing. He didn't know where she was, who had taken her, or what happened to her.

Richard got up and stared out the large window Raven had. As he looked over the cityscape, he prayed for some miracle to point out where Raven actually was. He laughed bitterly to himself about his wish.

As he thought more about Raven, the twisted clip of Raven being taken played itself over and over and over in his mind.

He hadn't seen something like that coming. He knew something was going to happen, just nothing like that.

The look in her eyes chilled him. All the resentment she had held toward him disappeared. All she wanted was help. And he didn't do anything.

Raven was shivering uncontrollably.

She didn't know where she was, who was holding her here, or what had happened. All she knew was she lying on a cement floor, in so much pain. She couldn't even open her eyes.

Her whole body felt so heavy, as if she was having an outer body experience, looking down at herself struggling to stay alive.

She didn't know how long she had been here. She just knew she came out of unconsciousness in overwhelming pain. As she shivered, her body experienced more pain. She had felt someone pull her hair. As she tried to swat their arm, she failed miserably.

She had felt someone take her jacket, tank top and short off her, but she couldn't do anything. All she do was feel it and not do anything as they redressed her.

She needed to do something. Overcome the pain and figure out what was going. As she was about to open her eyes, someone lifted her off the ground and carried her.

She was going to do it now. Open them up.

"Is she still out?" a deep voice asked. One that was using a voice disguiser.

"I believe so…" another said. Also disguised.

Raven opened her eyes quickly, just to regret it. As she got a view of her captor, she was dropped onto the floor. Feet came at her body, kicking and beating her mercilessly.

She laid her head on the cool floor, holding back the chills. It would all be over soon. Richard would save her…

How could she think like that? Yeah, she had meant what she said, but she was so harsh about it. She was jealous of Kori and Richard's relationship and that was how she expressed it: anger.

He would never forgive her, let alone save her.

_You'll get through this Raven. Just hang on. You get through this. It'll all end and you'll get out. _

As she felt a pin prick into her back, she began to doubt if she would get through this. And then, everything was gone.

The next thing Raven knew was extreme pain was going through her body. She was blindfolded and laying in an awkward position. She pulled on her hands, but they wouldn't move. She pulled her feet, and like her hand, didn't move.

The pain she felt, she figured, was electric shocks. She moved her head back and forth, but nothing happened except she felt like she was attached to something.

She used what she knew and tried to put together a visual of what she looked like. Her hands and feet her bound, but not on the ground. So they must be attached to the walls. Her back was on the ground. As she twisted her head, she felt twinges on her head, meaning she must have some sort of sensors on her head.

Like before, jolts raced through her body, causing her body to jerk. She arched her back off the ground.as sweat began to douse her body. Gritting her teeth, she tried to control herself, but it was too much for her.

She screamed, as the shock was unending, relentless. And it just kept going.

After minutes of pain, she began to felt confused. Almost disoriented. She tried to keep her mind straight, but it just kept fumbling over itself.

What was happening? What were they doing to her? As she felt herself start to break down, her whole world went black.

Richard couldn't sleep; he wouldn't sleep. Never. Not until her found Raven.

When 5:30 came, Richard climbed off the couch were he had tried to sleep. But yet his mind refused to stop racing; calling out names at him, blaming him for everything.

He got up and began to pace. Should he go to work, or should he stay here unless something happens concerning Raven?

It was just too much for him to handle. If he worked, he didn't care about what was going on. If he didn't go to work, he was letting this affect him too much.

After a long battle versus himself, he decided it was best if he went to work. He had to be there if another letter came.

As he walked into his office, he felt a coldness he hadn't felt in such a long time. The last week, he'd had Raven here to comfort and amuse him. Before her, he had the thought of Kori in his mind for almost five years. Now, he had nothing.

He sat in his chair, staring at the woodwork of his desk. He couldn't bring himself to work, yet he couldn't bring himself to leave. He was only here for the structure of it. If he was at home, he would have gone insane already.

He stared at that desk for 4 hours, unmoving. Around 1:00, there was a rap at the door. He jumped at the sudden noise, wondering how long he had been like that.

"Come in," he said, clearing his throat and adjusting himself.

Mona stomped in, throwing a bunch of envelopes across his desk. With a cross look on her face, she spat, "Get your own mail next time."

He was taken aback by this. Sure, she was an angry person, but she was that mad she had to walk twenty feet to Richard's office?

He watched her until she walked out of the office. Then he grabbed the envelopes, greedily going through them as if he knew it was there.

"junk, junk, Lila, junk. Come on, it has to be here!" he muttered to himself as he threw the others aside.

Then, he came upon a manila envelope. A lump formed in his throat that went all the way down to his stomach. Reaching his hand inside of the envelope, he pulled out a piece of paper. As he did he glanced at the letter and the envelope.: the same red paper, the same address. No postmark, no return address.

Almost scared to read it, he pushed his fear away an began to read.

_Dear Mr. Grayson,_

_What a pleasure to talk again_

_How long it's been_

_Don't worry; don't fret_

_She's still alive, as of yet_

_We're taking good care of her_

_You can be completely sure_

_She'll live through it all_

_And because of this, it'll lead to your fall_

_So toodle-loo, talk to you later_

_After all of this, you may be the one to hate her._

_Sincerely,_

_Your Biggest Fan_

_PS- There's something to calm your worries in the envelope. Hope you enjoy it._

Richard read it, so confused on what it meant. This man kidnapped Raven, yet he was planning to keep her alive. All captors Richard had dealt with never promised to keep them alive.

Reading the last two sentences, he reached his hand into the envelope. Maybe it was some clue. This didn't seem like the average madman. Maybe he had a heart.

But as soon he put his hand in, he knew what it was. As he pulled it out, he felt like he was going to be sick. He wanted to look away, but he couldn't.

In Richard's hand lay at least a foot of tangled purple hair. It was Raven's. They had cut her hair off.


	9. Chapter 9

Richard was walking as fast as he possibly could home, the envelope pressed tightly to his chest. He felt like the sun was blinding him, people were giving him dirty looks, the police were after him, and the world was going to open some sort of mouth and swallow him whole.

So he was feeling a little anxious, nothing big, he said to himself. He kept walking, trying to make it seem like everything was normal. After he had received the messy dark purple braid in the manila envelope, he broke down. He had to get out of there.

He shot out of his chair and ran out of his office, past Mona, and to the elevator as he managed to attract some peculiar looks from his co-workers. It didn't matter. He just needed to get out of this suffocating environment.

As he stomped along the pavement, he thought about the past two weeks. He had gone from happy fiancé and hero to lovelorn target of a kidnapping psychopath, not to mention he was falling for his ex-girlfriend who had been captured by the psycho. What a great week.

He needed to do something. But what? How was he possibly going to find Raven when they could kill her at any moment and he had no idea where-

"Ow! Watch where you're going, jerk!"" someone yelped as Richard collided with them. A person Richard had hoped he would not see for a very, very, very long time.

As soon as he saw the red hair, his stomach dropped. He got to his feet, and looked at Kori slightly. She stared back at him, unsure of what to say. Offering her hand, she accepted it graciously. The two stood on the sidewalk in silence, wondering what to do.

"Kori," he said softly, breaking the silence.

"Listen, could we go someplace to talk? There are a few things I need to tell you," she mumbled to him, looking slightly embarrassed.

After the two had uneasily settled into Raven's apartment on opposite facing couches, Richard still clutching the envelope, it was time for Kori to talk.

"Richard," she began. He closed his eyes, wondering what million things she could possibly have to say to him.

"The reason why I wanted to talk to you was because I want to apologize for everything I did and said."

Whoa. He did not see that one coming at all. His facial expression must've read the same way, for Kori chuckled slightly.

"I know it isn't exactly in my character to apologize, but soon after I left, I realized what a big mistake I had made. I jumped to conclusions too quickly, as I always do, assuming you and Raven were having an affair, which I figured out later was wrong. You're one of the most faithful and honest people I have ever met, and you'd never betray me, whether you were in love with Raven or not," Kori said to him apologetically.

Richard nodded. Knowing that this was supposed to make him feel better, he tried to smile, but as he did, he could only think about Raven. That night the two of them talked and talked for hours after he was forced to leave his own home. How she comforted him and consoled him. He gave Kori a small smile that broke immediately.

"I'm sorry Kori. I'm really happy that we are going to be able to put this all behind us now. It's just that I'm going to a bit of a tough spot right now."

"I understand. I read the paper this morning. About what happened last night…" she said, trailing off.

Richard's ears perked at this, which Kori noticed as well. "What did the papers say about it?" How could any newspaper know about this when it had happened in the middle of the night last night?

Kori reached into her oversized gold bag and pulled out a folded paper, handing it to Richard. "Here, read all you want."

Richard eyes started to scan the paper but after the first couple sentences, he dropped it onto the table in an outrage. "This is a load of crap!"

Kori stared at him strangely at his sudden outburst. "What? It says Raven was kidnapped from a club she was at by seedy guy. Makes sense to me."

Richard ran a hand through his hair, ignoring Kori's comment. "Why would someone write this? Who would write this?"

"It was written by Shari Raill, some writer for Gotham City Press. I still don't see what you're getting at, though."

"I was with Raven last night. Raven was kidnapped by someone who is stalking me, has a grudge against me, wants me dead, or all of the above," Richard exclaimed, counting off on his fingers.

Kori's eyes became wide. She hadn't seen Richard this worked up about bad guy since he fought Slade. Something was hitting close to heart, and she could pretty much figure out what it was. "Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a minute Rich. You lost me at the part where you were with Raven last night. Why don't you go back to the beginning and tell me the whole story of this…stalker?"

Ten minutes later and minus the details of all the sexual tension that had existed in the Wayne Enterprise offices, Richard was finishing up with the story. "-last night, we argued, and somehow ended up in the street. It was pitch black, and I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know what to do. Before I could get to her, this giant shadow encircled her and turned her into a shadow. I lost her. Then, this morning I received this," he told her, grabbing the envelope and handing it to her.

She grabbed it warily, unsure of what would be in there. She opened it and saw a thick foot long purple braid. As she did, her heart felt like it was shattering. Any hatred, any anger, any negative emotions she had ever felt towards Raven were gone.

She held it against her, as if she were trying to sense where Raven could be. But with everything Richard had told her, whoever had done this was one smart criminal.

"You do realize what we need to do?" Kori said after a few minutes of unsuccessful thinking.

Richard raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Regroup the Titans. Treat this as we would have five years ago."

Two hours later, Raven's living room was a Titans reunion. It's wasn't great terms for meeting, but it was meeting for that.

Terra, Gar, Victor, Kori, and Richard sat in the apartment unbelieving of what was going on. None of them spoke, for it hadn't really hit any of them on what was actually happening.

After Richard had relayed the story once again for Vic, Gar, and Terra, they sat in silence, looking at each other, wondering who was going to say something. Usually it was Richard who would be the first to speak, but he wasn't in leader-mode right now. And when that happened, the one who usually stepped up was Raven…

Eventually, Kori found Vic, Gar and Terra looking at her with a 'say something' expression. She cleared her throat and got to her feet as she motioned to Richard. "Well, since our leader is at the moment not fit to lead, and our second-in-command is the victim of this, I will declare myself acting leader of the Titans. Does anyone have any ideas that they would like to put on the table?"

The other three looked back and forth at each other. "Kori, I hate bein' a downer and all, but we really don't got much to go on," Victor admitted, scratching his head.

"He's got a point. Even if we had any ideas, how would we put them into action?" Terra pointed out with a flip of her blond hair.

Kori hated knowing they were right. This was just too much. She glanced at Richard as she bit her lip. What had happened to him? The once strong leader was now just sitting there, hugging himself, eyes downcast.

"Then we have no other choice but to split up and look for any sort information. It's better than sitting here doing nothing," she advised them.

The others nodded, knowing the she was right, even though they were having to resort to something like this.

She walked over to Richard. Crouching down and placing a hand on his shoulder, "Rich, we're going to go look around the city. See if we can't find anything."

His head popped up as he shot to his feet. "Okay, let's go." He needed to do this. He needed to find her. What could they possibly be doing to her that she had been gone for this long?

Kori shook her head with a smile as she firmly pushed him back onto the couch. "I think you should stay here. In case something happens that we can get in direct contact with you or each other. Gar's going to stay with you to help you, right Gar?" Kori responded, looking to an unsuspecting Gar.

"What am I doing?" he called out as he came over to Kori and Richard.

"You're going to stay here with Richard…in case anything important happens," she answered as she raised her eyebrows.

"Important? What d'you mean by important? Shouldn't Richard be out- Oh, okay, I gotcha! I got it! Yeah, we'll be here waitin' for anything vital."

Kori nodded. As she got ready to leave with Terra and Victor, she felt like crying. For Richard, for Raven, for herself. What had happened to all of them? This was the first time the five of them had been all together in months, and it was over this. They had lived together for years together, and it took one of them being kidnapped to bring them together again?

Not again, she told herself. She wasn't going to let it happen. Not on Kori Ander's watch.

Richard sat on Raven's window ledge, watching as if some signal was going to come as show her where she is.

"So you really love her?"

He turned and found Gar next to him, smiling at him. Richard gave a small smile. "Yeah, yeah, I guess I do. I guess I always have, and I just never realized it till now. You never realize how much you need something until it's gone."

Gar nodded in agreement, as he looked out into the nighttime sky. "You know, she was always crazy about you. I wish that it could've been me."

Richard looked in, confused at what he was getting at. "What you mean?"

"You remember when Raven and I dated for a good five or six months?" Gar asked him, still looking out the window. Richard nodded, remembering the months when he had dated Kori and Raven and Gar were dating. He thought that the Tower was one big happy family.

"She was never happy. She just did it to make you jealous. She was always apologizing to me after, feeling that she had used me. I never knew it, so I wasn't upset. But, she just never got over you. Everyday, she was always upset when you and Star were together."

"I wish she would've said something to me earlier. The only reason why I went Kori was because I thought I couldn't have Raven because of her emotions. I wanted to feel loved, no matter how strange it sounds. If she had said something then instead of now, then our relationship could've been saved. God, how blind was I? I mean, if I had only seen it then…"he mumbled, shaking his head in disbelief. Fools in love.

The two say in silence. Richard hoped that someone would call saying that someone found something. Anything.

"What was that?" Gar asked, getting up from the ledge, his face looking very cautious.

Richard looked at him. "What?"

"I think there's someone at Raven's door…" Gar replied, a hint of question in his voice as he began to walk towards it.

Richard jumped off the ledge and placed a hand on Gar's chest, stopping him from going nay further. "Wait, don't do anything yet."

The two looked at each other, then looked back at the door, as if they were waiting for it to start talking or something.

Then, there was a loud bang outside the door, and footsteps walking away from the door. Richard ran to the door and looked out the peephole, hoping to get a look at who was at the door.

He saw nothing.

"What was that bang then?" Gar asked confused, approaching Richard.

Richard shrugged as he slowly began to open the door. When he got it open, his eyes widened at what was there. At their feet lay a body, lying in an awkward position.

"Who is that?" Gar asked. Richard didn't know either. It was a woman, with ivory skin and dressed in a white tank top and black sweatpants. She had black messy hair that ended right above her closed eyes.

"Come on, we should help her inside, whoever she is,' Richard said as he started to grab her under the arms. He stepped over the body and began to pull her. As he did, her body jerked and her eyes flew open.

Richard jumped as he saw those eyes.

Her eyes. The eyes he would never ever forget.

"Where am I? Get away from me!" she shouted as she started to push herself away from the two of them. She cowered against the wall, hiding her face in her knees.

"Dude, what's her problem? Why's she here, anyway?" Gar said to Richard.

Richard gulped. Sighing, he said to Gar, "She's here, because I think that's Raven."

Gar's mouth dropped open as Richard began to approach her. "Raven? Raven? Please, talk to me. Come on, you're safe now. It's me." He grabbed her hands in his.

Tears tracked down her face. She looked at her hands encircled in his, and then at him. He gave a warm smile. Her eyes were still so complicated, yet they were different. In them was confusion, and pure fear.

She kept looking at him, as if she was trying to figure something out. Finally, she sighed. She pulled her hand out from his and asked him, "Who are you?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay, here's the deal. This is my first chapter for Forbidden under the pen name blindingdarkness15. Already I have a feeling that I am going to lose many of my old readers, but perhaps I will gain many new ones. I hope you will enjoy this new chapter, as I had written it before I was locked out of my old account.**

* * *

Richard sat on the small couch in his living room, eyes wide and glazed over. No attempt was made to try and comfort him. Terra, Gar and Victor simply sat around him as Kori was in Raven's room checking her over for injuries and trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

His heart had been shattered.

Her comment just kept repeating itself over and over in his head, as if it was on a tape and someone kept rewinding it… _'Who are you?' _she had gasped, the look in her eyes so vulnerable and confused. A look he had never seen with Raven.

Those three words seemed so insignificant when separates, yet when she strung them together and spoke them, he crashed. All the feeling that had built up over the past week or so felt like it was dying. Richard kept looking back over the week and what was happening now. As he thought about how his feeling would race at the mere mention of her, he realized he was going to have to admit it. He had fallen for her once again. Now, everything had fallen apart.

What had happened to her when she was gone? What had they done to her?

More importantly, what was he supposed to do now?

He heard a door shut faintly behind him. His head whipped around as he saw Kori step out of the bedroom. He shot up off the couch and ran to her. "Well? What's happening?"

Kori let out a sigh. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she responded, "Maybe we should go back to the couch for this…" She took his hand and led him back to where he had been sitting before.

The other three perked up when they saw Kori come to the living area of the apartment. Once Kori realized that all of their eyes were on her, eagerly waiting for her to tell them about what she had concluded, she wished she had never volunteered to be interim leader. She hated giving bad news.

Clearing her throat, she clasped her hands together. "Well, I talked to her, and she is…how do I say this? She's not herself."

"Kori, we kinda figured that out when she pretty much decked Rich when he tried to help her. What exactly, though, is up with her?" Gar pointed out, a small smile on his face.

Rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly, she still felt Richard's eyes drilling holes into her skin. She couldn't look at him. Seeing his eyes made her want to cry. They were endless, yet they were filled with such emotion.

She tried to get the words out, but all she did was stutter. A few mumbled words made it out of her mouth, but none of them could understand what she was saying.

"Kor, what ya know can't be all that bad. And if truly is, ya can't hold it all inside like that. Just tell us," Vic said as he came and sat down beside her.

As she felt the tears in her eyes begin to spill out, she lost it. Beginning to cry, she placed her head into her hands, shoulders shaking. "Her entire demon side has been extracted, as well as all memories of her life as a Titan!" she cried.

The silence in the room suddenly became louder, as well as tension thick enough to smother someone. They all froze, no one daring to utter a word.

"Are-are you sure?" Gar asked, his voice faltering.

Kori nodded, wiping her eyes on the backs of her wrists. "You saw her yourself. She doesn't look like herself, she has no powers anymore, and she can't remember the past ten years of her life."

The five of them sat in silence, absorbing it all. Gar wrapped an arm around Terra, who was extremely upset by this news. Kori, who continued to cry, was comforted by Victor. Richard sat there, stone-faced and emotionless.

"Did they hurt her?" he asked out of the blue. He slowly turned to Kori, who had a confused expression on her face.

Kori stared back, not wanting to answer. She knew the truth, but she didn't want to tell him. "Richard, you have to understand. You can't, you couldn't have…"

"Did they hurt her?" he repeated, his voice growing in volume.

Kori nodded. "Her wrists have burns around them as well as her ankles. All along are torso is covered in thick welts and bruises as if she was beaten…"

Richard bowed his head. _'All your fault. This is all your fault.'_

"Rich, you can't be blaming yourself for this," Vic said softly. "Nobody possibly could have seen this as an outcome. This coulda happened to any of us. How could you have foreseen that an argument between you and Rae woulda led to her being kidnapped and her memory being erased?"

He shook his head to himself, getting angry. He looked up at Vic. "I could've just admitted that I had always loved her. I'd never stopped. By doing so, I would've saved everyone, especially her. She's the one paying for me being stubborn."

* * *

Richard looked to Kori's sleeping form on the couch. Gar, Vic, and Terra had gone home a little while ago, saying that they'd return tomorrow morning so they'd figure out what to do. Kori said she'd stay the night for Richard's behalf, but the others were also happy she did since she was still extremely upset.

While Kori was sleeping, he decided it was the best time to try to talk to her. He walked over to the door and gave it a gentle knock. He heard slight shuffling and with a quiet _swush_ it swung open. All that met him on the other side was a pair of terrified violet eyes.

"Hi."

There was no movement on the other side for a couple minutes, but she finally opened the door. She stood their meekly, her arms crossed over her body. Her eyes were extremely unfocused, looking all around the room.

He gave her a small smile. "How are you?"

She shrugged. She just kept staring at him, hoping for him to act. It was like she was waiting for him to do something for her.

"Are you busy right now?" he asked her, trying to glance around her body into the room. Her body suddenly tensed up. She bit her lip, and tore her eyes away from him. Then, her body relaxed, and she focused her eyes right on him. Gripping the doorknob in her hand, she slammed the door in his face.

He froze, and then realized he was smiling. It was the first time he had seen her terrified all night. He tapped against the door once more. "Please, I just want to talk to you. I didn't mean to scare you." Once he spoke those words and remembered her facial expression, he was brought back to the night she was back in the seven-year old body and clinging. It was supposedly the night she had fallen back in love with him.

"What?" a voice whispered from the other side of the door frame, surprising Richard. She stood there, an impatient look on her face.

He gave her a small smile. "Can I come in?" he asked, motioning to the room. She looked behind her before letting him in. He followed her into the bedroom where the two of them sat down on her bed. She never took her eyes off him.

"So, Kori told me you had been thorugh a lot," he said gently, motioning to her wrists. She flinched, instinctively grabbing them. Terror filled her eyes. He placed his hand over hers. "Don't worry. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. Not while I'm around."

She relaxed somewhat. Cocking her head to the side a bit, she gave him a perplexed look. "Who are you?"

Richard rubbed the back of his neck. What was it with her and that question? How was he going to explain this one to her?

"You don't remember anything, do you?" he asked her back. She replied with a shake of her head. "Well then, I guess the best response for that question would be to say is we're very close friends, you and i. We have been for the past almost fifteen years. My name is Richard Grayson and Your name is Raven Roth."

Raven nodded, biting down on her tongue in thought. Richard noticed the fear was slowly disappearing from her expression and being replaced with comfort. She sighed before asking him "Richard, what happened to me? I have no idea who I am…"

He looked back at her, obviously upset by this question. _'She shouldn't be asking this. It's my fault she is. It's my fault she can't even remember her own name!' _"I honestly don't know."

The two sat in silence for a while, calmed by each other's presences before Richard stood up. "I'm going to let you get some sleep. We can talk again in the morning. Is that alright with you?"

Raven looked up at him and nodded. She made a face that resembled a smile. Richard chuckled at that before he walked out and closed the door behind him. Leaning against the door, he felt more lost than ever before. He couldn't wait until morning. With that he made a dash for the phone.

"Yeah Vic, I know it's 1 AM, I don't care. I need to talk to you. What? So tell him to shove it. Vic, that's what you get for living with roommates. Vic, I'm the one in the life-or-death situation over here, not Roy!!" Richard exclaimed, resisting the urge to flail his arms about.

"It's Raven. No, I don't know what to do. Of course I talked to her. Yeah, of course it went well. I – I just don't know where to go from here. Well, she has absolutely no memory Vic. What do you mean? That's…that's…that's so crazy it just might work. You're a genius, did everyone tell you that? I'll talk to you tomorrow. I have to think about this. Yeah, bye," Richard said before hanging the phone up on the receiver. He leaned against the counter, Vic's words still echoing in his mind.

"Make Raven fall in love with me. Remind her all about who she is. Help her rediscover her memory. That just might work…" he admitted, a smile growing on his face. _  
_


End file.
